Gaza hospitals treat young Palestinians shot in violent protests

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Indexes Rise Amid Gaza Turmoil

Deanna Wagner
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16 May, 2018, 13:08

Within minutes they were engulfed in tear gas.

"We will not sit with them", Erekat said. Militants had opened fire on Israeli troops and tried to set off explosives by the fence. "What have they done wrong?" said Um Khalid al Ashram, a middle-aged Palestinian woman who was near the funeral procession.

"Especially since President Erdogan was elected, the relations are very tense, with many ups and downs, whenever there is a small or a big crisis between Israel and Palestinians in general - and the Palestinians in Gaza in particular", he said. CNN journalists on the ground said it appeared that almost every neighborhood in Gaza had lost someone in Monday's demonstrations.

May's spokesman said she was "deeply troubled" by Israel's use of live fire and "the scale of the violence" while Macron condemned "the violence of the Israeli armed forces against protesters". At least 60 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured, Gaza officials said.

Mariam al-Ghandour, 17, said her daughter, Leila, died after a mix-up led to her being taken to a flashpoint in Gaza during protests. Several said they felt abandoned by political parties and protest organizers. There is no point.

Over 2,700 people suffered injuries, almost half of them by live fire, according to the health ministry. But this year, they have even more reasons to grieve.

Global condemnation has poured in over Israel's use of force against unarmed Palestinian protesters.

Pro-Palestine protesters condemned the Israeli military's use of deadly force during the "Great March of Return", in a demonstration outside Brussels' Central railway station on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Ireland summoned Israel's ambassador to protest against the fatalities while Russian Federation and China also expressed their concern over the killings. China called on Israel to show restraint.

A proposed UN Security Council press statement, put forward by Kuwait, was blocked by the USA, according to a UN diplomat.

The draft statement, obtained by The Associated Press, also expressed "outrage and sorrow" at the killings, sought an "independent and transparent investigation", and called on all sides to exercise restraint. He stressed that worldwide laws that applied to Israel made clear that "lethal force may only be used as a measure of last, not first, resort". The statement was withdrawn once the United States indicate that it would block it, a United Nations diplomat said.

Most countries say the status of Jerusalem - a sacred city to Jews, Muslims and Christians - should be determined in a final peace settlement and that moving their embassies now would prejudge any such deal. We want our message to reach the world.

Most Gaza protesters stay around tent camps but groups have ventured closer to the border fence, rolling burning tyres and throwing stones. Tuesday also marked the anniversary of the formation of the Jewish state.

Weeping helplessly, a mother cradles her lifeless eight-month-old daughter yesterday - an apparent victim of Israeli tear gas - as a picture emerged of a double amputee using a slingshot against troops.

Israel blames Hamas for inciting the violence, a position that its ambassador to Canada reiterated in a statement released in Ottawa.

This is not the first time confirmed terrorists have been found among those killed while carrying out terrorist activities during violence at the border, such as planting bombs, trying to destroy the security fence, and carrying out attacks. "All of these men are working age", said Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sitta.

"We are saddened by deaths + injuries that occurred today + over past weeks". The previous high was 17, which happened on the day the protests started on March 30.